Fluidically operated actuator means or the like



DEC.

FLUIDI'CALLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THE LIKE 2 -Sheet Deo mvENToROBERT L. GOLDEN Dec. 16, 1969 Filed Dec.

R. L. GOLDEN FLUIDICALLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THE LIKE f'ij 2Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR z ROBERT L. GOLDEN Q2 HlS ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent Q 3,483,800 FLUIDICAIJLY OPERATED ACTUATOR MEANS OR THELlm Robert L. Golden, Greensburg, Pa., assiguor to Robertshaw ControlsCompany, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 5, 1966,Ser. No. 599,064 Int. Cl. F151) 15/10 US. C]. 92-99 10 Claims ABSTRACT FTHE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a pneumatically operatedactuator having two cupshaped housing members snap fitted together atthe open ends thereof and sealingly holding an outer periphery of aflexible diaphragm between flange means of the housing members, eachflange means having an outwardly directed rib offset relative to the ribof the other flange means and respectively compressing into the outerperiphery of the flexible diaphragm. The outer periphery of the flexiblediaphragm has a substantially Sshaped cross-sectional surface that mateswith a like outboard cross-sectional surface of the housing member withwhich the diaphragm cooperates to define a fluid chamber therebetween.

This invention relates to an improved fluidically operated actuator orthe like.

It is well known that fluidically operated actuator means can beprovided wherein a flexible diaphragm or the like cooperates with ahousing means to define a chamber therebetween whereby when such chambermeans is at normal atmospheric conditions, the flexible diaphragm willhold an actuating member or the like in a predetermined positionthereof. However, when a pressure differential is created across theflexible diaphragm of such actuator means by directing a fluidic signalto the chamber of the actuator, the diaphragm is moved to anotherposition thereof to position the actuator means in another operatingposition thereof.

Accordingly, it is a feature of this invention to provide an improvedfluidically operated actuator means of the above type wherein theflexible diaphragm is simply and effectively sealed to the housing meansto prevent fluid leakage at such interconnection means.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvedfluidically operated actuator means having one or more of the novelfeatures set forth above or here- {inafter shown or described.

Other objects, uses and advantages of this invention are apparent from areading of this description, which proceeds with reference to theaccompanying drawings forming a part thereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a cross-sectional view of the improved actuator means ofthis invention.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view of thediaphragm sealing means of the actuator of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 and illus trates the actuator ofthis invention in another operating position thereof.

While the various features of this invention are hereinafter describedand illustrated as being particularly adaptable for providing a vacuumoperated actuator means or the like, it is to be understood that thevarious features of this invention can be utilized singly or in anycombination thereof to provide other types of actuator means as desired.

Therefore, this invention is not to be limited to only the embodimentillustrated in the drawings, because the drawings are merely utilized toillustrate one of the wide variety of uses of this invention.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the improved actuator means of this inventionis generally indicated by the reference numeral 10 and comprises a pairof cup-shaped, rigid casing or housing members 11 and 12 respectivelyhaving outwardly directed annular flange means 13 and 14 at the openends thereof to provide snap-fit connection means for snap-fitting thecasing members 11 and 12 together in their assembled condition, asillustrated in FIGURE 1 and in a manner hereinafter described.

A flexible diaphragm 15 has its outer peripheral means 16 held betweenthe snap-fitted flange means 13 and '14 of the casing members 11 and 12to cooperate with the casing member 11 in defining a chamber 17therebetween. The inner periphery 18 of the flexible diaphragm 15 issnap-fitted into an annular recess 19 formed in an actuating post means20 having a diaphragm back-up plate means 21 disposed in the chamber 17and abutting the under side 22 of the flexible diaphragm 15 and havingan integral post 23 extending through a central opening 24 of thediaphragm 15 and out through a central opening iiizeans 25 formed in theend wall 26 of the casing member The actuating post 23 can beinterconnected to any suitable device to be operated by the actuatormeans 10 in a manner hereinafter described. For example, in theembodiment illustrated in the drawings, the actuating post 23 ispivotally interconnected to a lever 27 by a pivot pin 28, the lever 27having one end 29 thereof pivotally mounted by a pivot pin 30 to asupporting structure 31 whereby movement of the actuating post 23 fromthe position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to the position illustrated inFIGURE 3 will cause the lever 27 to be moved about its pivot point 30 ina counterclockwise direction to actuate any suitable structure, such asan electrical switch or the like. The lever means 27 is normally held inthe :position illustrated in FIGURE 1 by a suitable tension spring 32whereby the flexible diaphragm 15 is normally in the positionillustrated in FIGURE 1 when the chamber 17 of the actuator 10 is in anormal atmospheric condition.

The cup-shaped casing member 11 has the bottom or closed Wall 33 thereofsubstantially dish-shaped and is provided with opposed tubular members34- and 35 extending in opposite directions from the central portion ofthe wall 33, the tubular members 34 and 35 respectively having passagemeans 36 and 37 formed therethrough and interconnected together by asmall passage means 38 formed in an integral disc-like part 39separating the bores 36 and 37 from each other.

In this manner, a flexible conduit 40 or the like can have one end 41thereof telescoped onto the outwardly projecting tubular portion 34 ofthe casing membre 11 and be held thereon in a press-fit relation, asdesired. For example, the tubular member 34 can have an outwardlydirected annular bead 42 intermediate its opposed ends to outwardlydeform the end 41 of the flexible conduit 40 in the manner illustratedby the reference numeral 43 to hold the flexible conduit 40 onto thetubular extension 34.

The flexible conduit 40 is adapted to be interconnected to a vacuumsource 44 when a selector switch for valve means 45 is in a properposition thereof whereby when the vacuum source 44 is interconnected tothe chamber 17 of the actuator 10 by the selector means 45, thesubsequent ecacuation of the chamber 17 causes the flexible diaphragm 15to move from the position illustrated in FIGURE 1 to the positionillustrated in FIGURE 3 to pull the lever 27 to the operating positionillustrated in FIGURE 3 for any suitable purpose.

When the selector valve means 45 disconnects the vacuum source 44 fromthe chamber 17 of the actuator 10, air is adapted to return to thechamber 17 either through the selector means 45 and the interconnectingconduit means 40 or by a controlled bleed means generally indicated bythe reference numeral 46 in FIGURE 1.

In particular, the control bleed means 46 includes a tubular extension47 formed on the end wall 33 of the casing member 11 and having astepped bore means 48 passing therethrough to fluidly interconnect theexterior of the casing member 11 with the chamber 17. However, anorifice cup member 49 is disposed in the bore means 48 and has a fixedorifice 50 passing through the bottom wall 51 thereof to control theamount of air that can return to the chamber 17 through the orificemeans 36, the air returning to the chamber 17 being filtered by asuitable filter means 52 disposed in the bore means 46 outboard of theorifice cup 49.

The size of the orifice 50 in the orifice cup 49 is so constructed thatwhen the vacuum source 44 is interconnected to the chamber 17 in themanner previously described the amount of air tending to return to thechamber 17 through the orifice 50 is not suflicient to effect themovement of the diaphragm from its normal position illustrated in FIGURE1 to its actuated position illustrated in FIGURE 3. However, when thevacuum source 44 is disconnected from the chamber 17 by the selectormeans 45, the air returning to the chamber 17 through the orifice 50 isat a fixed controlled rate whereby the flexible diaphragm 15 in FIGURE 3will move at a predetermined rate from the position illustrated inFIGURE 3 back to the position illustrated in FIGURE 1, as the chamber 17returns to a normal atmospheric condition by means of the controlledbleed means 36 and by the tension spring 32 pulling the diaphragm 15back to the position illustrated in FIGURE 1.

The back-up plate means 21 of the actuating post means includes asubstantially flat plate-like portion 53 engaging the under side 22 ofthe flexible diaphragm 15 in the manner illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 3and having a substantially centrally disposed inwardly directed tubularextension 54 and a plurality of stiffening rib means 55 radiating fromthe tubular extension 54.

Similarly, the cup-shaped bottom wall 33 of the casing member 11 has aplurality of stiffening rib means 56 radiating from the inwardlydirected tubular extension thereof, with the inner edges 57 of the ribmeans 56 being coplanar with the flat end 58 of the tubular extension35. However, the ribs 55 of the back-up plate means 21 having theirinner edges 59 angularly disposed toward the back-up plate 53 at theouter ends thereof and feathering to the flat end surface 60 of thetubular extension 54 at the inner ends thereof.

In this manner, when the vacuum source 34 is interconnected to thechamber 17 of the actuator 10, the diaphragm 15 is moved from right toleft to the position illustrated in FIGURE 3 wherein the end surface 60of the tubular extension 54 of the back-up plate means 21 abuts againstthe inner edges 54 of the stiffening rib means 56 of the casing member11 to terminate leftward movement of the diaphragm 15 while the bore 61in the tubular extension 54 of the back-up plate means 21 isconcentrically disposed about the tubular extension 34 of the casingmember 11 so that the vacuum source 34 will be continuouslyinterconnected to the chamber 17 to positively hold the diaphragm 15 inthe operating position illustrated in FIGURE 3 as long as the selectorvalve is interconnecting the vacuum source 44 to the flexible conduit40. In this manner, the diaphragm 15 is positively held in the actuatingposition illustrated in FIG- URE 3, even though the controlled bleedmeans 46 is tending to permit air to return to the evacuated chamber 17because the vacuum source 44 fully overcomes the slow bleed of air intothe evacuated chamber 17 to positively hold the diaphragm 15 in theactuated position of FIGURE 3.

As previously stated, another feature of this invention is to provideimproved means for sealing the outer peripheral means 16 of thediaphragm 15 between the snap-fit flange means 13 and 14 of the casingmembers 11 and 12 whereby reference is now made to FIGURE 2 fullyillustrating such unique structure.

The outwardly directed peripheral flange means 13 of the casing member11 defines a substantially flat surface means 62 on a tongue portion 63,as well as an outwardly directed annular bead or rib means 64 projectingsubstantially perpendicularly relative to the flat surface 62.

The outwardly directed peripheral flange means 14 of the casing member12 defines a substantially L-shaped structure having a first arm 65disposed at a right angle relative to the other arm 66 thereof, with thearm 65 defining a flat surface 67 disposed parallel to the flat surface62 of the flange means 13 of the casing member 11. However, an outwardlydirected rib means 68 extends substantially perpendicular to the flatsurface 67 of the arm 65 for a purpose hereinafter described.

The arm 66 of the flange means 14 of the casing member 12 has an annularrecess 69 formed therein to snapfittingly receive the tongue 63 of thecasing member 11 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE 2, whereby thecasing members 11 and 12 can be snap-fitted together through the naturalresiliency of the material forming the casing members 11 and 12, suchmaterial being a suitable plastic-material or the like.

The outer peripheral means 16 of the flexible diaphragm 15 includes anenlarged bead or annular projection 70 extending from the side 22thereof at the extreme outer end of the diaphragm 15.

The projection 70 of the flexible diaphragm 15 is so constructed andarranged that when the exposed side 71 of the diaphragm 15 is placedagainst the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 of the casing member 12, thecasing member 11 being snap-fitted to the casing member 12 through thecooperation of the tongue means 63 and recess means 69 causes the ribmeans 64 thereof to compress a part 72 of the flexible diaphragm 15 intosealing engagement with the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 while the head70 of the diaphragm 15 is aligned with the rib means 68 of the arm 65and is compressed between the flat surface 67 of the arm 65 and the flatsurface 62 of the flange means 15 of the casing member 11. Theconfiguration of the projection 70 complements the configuration of theprojection 64 of the casing member 11 in the manner illustrated inFIGURE 2. In this manner, the projection means 68 on the arm 65 of thecasing member 12 fully embeds into the bead means 70 of the flexiblediaphragm 15 in offset relation relative to the bead or rib means 64 ofthe cup-shaped member 11 so that a positive fluid seal is providedbetween the flange means 13 and 14 of the casing members 11 and 12 andthe outer peripheral means 16 of the diaphragm 15.

In addition, it can be seen that when the diaphragm 15 is being drawnfrom the position illustrated in FIG- URE 1 to the position illustratedin FIGURE 3 by a vacuum being created in the chamber 17, such actioncauses the flexible diaphragm 15 to more firmly stretch around theannular projection 64 of the flange means 13 of the casing member 11 totightly draw the bead 70 of the diaphragm 15 into sealing engagementwith the projection 64 of the casing member 11 to prevent air and thelike from passing between the bead 70 of the diaphragm 15 and theprojection 64 of the casing member 11 into the evacuated chamber 17.

Further, it can be seen that through a simple snap-fit relation betweenthe flange means 13 and 14 of the casing members 11 and 12, the outerperipheral means 16 or the diaphragm 15 is fully secured therebetween ina unique arrangement to provide the aforementioned fluid sealing withoutrequiring auxiliary fastening means or the like.

Therefore, it can be seen that this invention provides an improvedfluidically operated actuator means or the like having many novel,useful and unobvious features.

While the form of the invention now preferred has been disclosed asrequired by the statutes, other forms may be used, all coming within thescope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:

1. A fluidically operated actuator comprising a first casing memberhaving a first flange means, a second casing member having a secondflange means, said first flange means having a first substantially flatsurface provided with an outwardly directed first rib means, said firstrib means having an outer arcuate cross-sectional surface and areversely curving outboard cross-sectional side surface joining saidfist flat surface, said first flange means having a first snap-fitconnection means, said second flange means having a second snap-fitconnection means sap-fitted to said first snap-fit connection means tohold said first and second casing members together, said second flangemeans having a second substantially flat surface that is disposedsubstantially parallel to said first flat surface and is provided withan outwardly directed second rib means, and a flexible diaphragm havingan outer periphery held between said first and second flange means ofsaid fist and second casing members to cooperate with said first casingmember to define a chamber therebetween, said outer periphey of saiddiaphragm having a substantially S-shaped cross-sectional surface thatmates with said arcuate and reversely curving surfaces of said first ribmeans, said first and second rib means being offset relative to eachother and respectively compressing said outer periphery of saiddiaphragm against said first and second surfaces of said first andsecond flange means.

2. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidfirst casing member is cup-shaped and said first flange means thereof isat the open end thereof.

3. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 2 wherein saidsecond casing member is also cup-shaped and has said second flange meansthereof at the open end thereof. I

4. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 3 wherein saiddiaphragm carries an actuating post means extending outwardly therefrom,said second casing member having an opening passing through the closedend thereof and telescopically receiving said actuating post means.

5. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 4 whereinsaid actuating post means includes a diaphragm back up plate meansdisposed in said chamber and engaging said diaphragm.

6. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 1 whereinsaid second snap-fit connection means comprises an annular groove insaid second flange means and wherein said first snap-fit connectionmeans comprises an annular tongue on said first flange means received insaid groove.

7. A fluidically operated actuator means as set forth in claim 6 whereinsaid second flange means is substantially L-shaped in cross section withone arm thereof defining said second surface and the other arm havingsaid groove whereby said groove is disposed substantially at a rightangle relative to said second surface.

8. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 6 wherein saidtongue of said first flange is disposed substantially at a right anglerelative to said first rib means.

9. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 1 wherein saidouter periphery of said diaphragm has an enlarged bead disposed outboardof said first rib means and is in engagement with said second rib means.

10. A fluidically operated actuator as set forth in claim 9 wherein saidsecond rib means deforms into said enlarged bead of said diaphragm whilecompressing said bead against said first surface of said first flangemeans carrying said first rib means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,339,876 1/1944 Phillips 9298 X2,997,028 8/1961 Ayers.

3,035,552 5/1962 Hill 9299 X 3,109,346 11/1963 Julow 92-98 3,180,2354/1965 Schmitz 9298 X 3,334,545 8/1967 Houser 9298 X 3,335,641 8/1967Toschkoif.

3,354,831 11/1967 Acker et al.

MARTIN P. SCHWADRON, Primary Examiner I. C. COHEN, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R. 9298

